ASU students develop heart attack device

What started as a class project for four Arizona State University students has morphed into a company that develops a device to aid heart attack victims.

InnovateLife LLC is working on a product that lowers the body temperature of cardiac arrest patients when emergency medical responders arrive on the scene. Studies show cooling the body to 93.2 degrees Fahrenheit can increase the chances of recovery, said Joshua Tong, the 22-year-old CEO of InnovateLife. The process is called therapeutic hypothermia.

Cooling devices are on the market for hospital use, but EMS first responders still lack the tools to begin cooling patients safely before they get to the hospital, Tong said.

The Tempe company, founded by Tong and three other ASU students, just received its second round of funding from the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, which gave $200,000 to 22 student teams to accelerate their venture concepts. The money allows the teams to move into incubator space at SkySong, the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center, where they work with business experts and entrepreneurs to take their products to market.

InnovateLife received the maximum funding: $20,000 in each of two years, Tong said.

Tong and two other founders — Gabe Holland, vice president of product design and development, and Christie Chiapetta, vice president of marketing — graduated from ASU last year. Henry Braun, vice president of engineering, is working on his master’s degree at ASU’s Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering.

Prasad Boradkar, associate professor of industrial design at ASU’s Herberger Institute School of Design Innovation, said Tong’s team was the only one to get the second round of financing.

Boradkar also is director of InnovationSpace, an entrepreneurial joint venture among the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and the W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU.

“Essentially, the goal of that program is to teach students how to do new product development,” he said. “We teach them how to do that in transdisciplinary teams and how to focus on solving real societal problems and making sure the solution is sustainable. These guys are a perfect example of a good entrepreneurial team.”

The idea for InnovateLife’s product came from Orlando Alcordo, director of training and education for PMT Ambulance. Bor­ad­kar regularly invites Alcordo to talk to InnovationSpace students about the needs of EMS personnel. When he started talking about the need to lower the body temperature of cardiac arrest patients, Tong and his team took an interest.

Alcordo continues to consult with InnovateLife on product design.

“I want them to be successful,” he said. “I want them to understand there are some great things that can really happen here, and I want them to know that I will stand behind them and tell them whether it’s going to work or not.”

He doesn’t charge them consulting fees and has no financial stake in the company.

“I wasn’t brought up that way,” he said. “If it’s good for the community, I will do what it takes.”

Tong has been meeting with Linda Mottle, director of the ASU Center for Healthcare Innovation and Clinical Trials, to look at how they can test the product in clinical trials at her facility.

“It is a long and arduous journey, but I am so proud of their perseverance, the knowledge they are gaining and their desire to make a product that will improve patient outcomes,” Mottle said.

She said she will help the company submit a proof of concept research study grant with the National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research to implement a trial next year.

“I get such enjoyment mentoring these young innovators,” Mottle said. “They are our hope for creating new business ventures in Arizona.”